The proposal is based on a framework outlined last year by former Clinton White House chief of staff Erskine Bowles, who co-chaired President Obama’s debt commission, and included an increase in the eligibility age for Medicare benefits. Republicans did not offer specific language on raising the age in their proposal Monday, but Bowles has publicly supported raising the age to 67.Obama and House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, also discussed gradually raising the Medicare eligibility age from 65 to 67 during their unsuccessful talks on deficit reduction in 2011.

“What we’re putting forth is a credible plan that deserves serious consideration by the White House and I would hope that they would respond in a timely and responsible way,” Boehner told reporters.

The White House on Monday dismissed a Republican counteroffer to avert the so-called fiscal cliff as failing to “meet the test of balance” by resisting higher tax rates for the wealthy, a point that remains a key hurdle in the impasse over spending and revenues.

Dan Pfeiffer, the White House communications director, said in a statement that what congressional Republicans had billed as a “good-faith effort” to move toward compromise contained “nothing new” and offered no specifics on how they’d achieve revenue targets included in the plan.

“Until the Republicans in Congress are willing to get serious about asking the wealthiest to pay slightly higher tax rates, we won’t be able to achieve a significant, balanced approach to reduce our deficit,” Pfeiffer said in the statement, released two hours after details of the GOP offer emerged.

***

“While I’m flattered the Speaker would call something ‘the Bowles plan,’ the approach outlined in the letter Speaker Boehner sent to the President does not represent the Simpson-Bowles plan, nor is it the Bowles plan,” Bowles said in a statement released by the Moment of Truth Project. “In my testimony before the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, I simply took the mid-point of the public offers put forward during the negotiations to demonstrate where I thought a deal could be reached at that time. The Joint Select Committee failed to reach a deal, and circumstances have changed since then. It is up to negotiators to figure out where the middle ground is today.”

Bowles went on to outline what came to be known as the “Bowles plan.” Calling it a plan, though, is probably a bit generous: It was mostly an exercise in taking the Republican position and the Democratic position and dividing by two. …

… That’s the plan Boehner offered the White House on Monday. It’s progress. If you ignore the first nine paragraphs in his letter to President Obama — nine paragraphs in which he vents about the White House and rehashes the virtues of the Ryan budget — it’s a far more centrist proposal than anything Boehner has offered in public before now. But it’s essentially identical to what he offered in his talks with Obama, and to what Bowles offered Republicans during the supercommittee talks. Which is understandable. Those deals must be looking pretty good to Boehner about now.

***

Republicans will cave on the question of raising the tax rate for the highest-income Americans. The only question is whether they do so before or after the government goes over the so-called fiscal cliff. …

The GOP moved an inch in that direction Monday. In a letter to President Obama, Speaker John Boehner and the House Republican leadership proposed $800 billion in new tax revenues, along with about $1.4 trillion in combined cuts to entitlements and discretionary spending. But the GOP still resisted any increase in tax rates, which they “continue to oppose and will not agree to.” …

Doing that would forestall the Democratic attack that the GOP will not bend on tax rates. Instead, it would be the president who’s not bending. Of course, Obama — and many in the media — would find other grounds to attack Republicans. But since the GOP is ultimately going to relent on the top tax rate, why not do it when it has some benefit?

***

CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: I heard what the Congressman (van Hollen) said and it is clear they are (Democrats) not serious at all about entitlements. which, as the president himself said, that is where the money is. On Social Security he denied that there’s any effect on the deficit at all. …

It’s surprising to me that the president, essentially, who could get revenues he wants from the deductions and exclusions, but insists on rates not for economic reasons but political. He wants to break the backs of Republicans. This is a continuation of his campaign. He thinks he is won it and now he wants to drive a stake through the Republicans. It’s all about the politics; it’s nothing about the economics.

With partisan debate over the “fiscal cliff” becoming more acrimonious by the day, President Obama will play host tonight to House Speaker John Boehner and members of Congress for the season’s first White House holiday reception. …

There are no planned meetings this week between Obama, Boehner or other key figures in the “fiscal cliff” negotiations. The sweeping package of automatic, across-the-board tax hikes and deep spending cuts will take effect in 29 days unless both sides reach a deal.

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An O/T question for you: Did your family celebrate a Christmas Eve event, whose name I cannot recall?

Out of curiosity, I attended one this weekend sponsored by a group of Slovak community members from a Catholic church. We had the traditional meal and entertainment which involved folk dress, music in the native language, dancing, and skits that retold the celebrations of assorted feast days in December. There was a delightful tale about the shepherds who brought their gifts to the Christ child.

onlineanalyst on December 3, 2012 at 11:17 PM

Velija? Did you have 12 courses? How about hay on the table?

And it is not a true Slovakian Velija without fresh carp, cabbage rolls, sheep cheese dumplings and potato salad.

“To protect millionaires, Speaker Boehner’s offer would force middle class families to pay higher taxes. Raising taxes on the middle class is bad policy and flunks the test of balance. To protect the middle class while reducing the deficit, simple math dictates that tax rates must rise on the top two percent of taxpayers next year. The sooner Republicans grasp that reality, the sooner we can avoid the fiscal cliff.

“Democrats are willing to compromise, but any agreement must protect the middle class. We have also been clear that we have no intention of kicking the can down the road. Not only does Speaker Boehner’s proposal delay revenues into 2013, it sets up another destructive fight over the debt ceiling first thing next year.
“Republicans have made an offer, but now it is time for them to get serious about forging a balanced approach.”

Reid manages (like DWS) to repeat buzz words into his talking points and to say absolutely nothing of consequence.

The middle class will be the next target for raising “revenue” (a la tax increases) because eventually the Dem spending spree will of necessity mean that those taxes will have to go up.

Boehner is going to have to work in the phrases “middle class” and “balanced approach” in a convincing way to demonstrate that the current tax rates must be maintained (in fact, made permanent) in order to assure balance, fairness, and justice to all taxpayers, or that the taxes will have to go up for all for the same ends.

With his reference to a coming “destructive fight,” Reid has indicated that he has no intention of setting a limit on the debt ceiling and thus no intention of cutting government growth at all.

gophergirl:Exactly,heres sumpin from a few days ago:)
=====================================================

Bibi Can’t Lose
It’s Benjamin Netanyahu’s Israel. All of his rivals just live in it.
Nov 30 2012
***********

It’s one of Washington’s worst kept secrets:

President Barack Obama’s administration would prefer Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to lose the Israeli elections in January 2013.

Netanyahu is not only too hawkish on the Palestinian issue and Iran for the White House’s comfort, he has the added burden of a fraught personal relationship with Obama — cemented by his perceived public endorsement of Mitt Romney in the U.S. presidential election.(More….)
=================================

I believe they would call it “holiday” parties since Christmas is associated with evil Christians and we can’t have that can we. Of course in Obama’s case, it’s an Eid-Milad-un-Nabi party, which represents the birth of the prophet whose name we dare not speak.

The meal included oplatki, a dish of honey and a dish of garlic (both symbols of something), a fresh mushroom soup with sauerkraut in the broth ( a delicious combination), fish (not carp though), pierogis, prunes, peas (symbols of fertility?) a layered concoction of pastry and cheese, a basket of fruit, and nut rolls. The contributors to the celebration came from differing traditions of Slovak Christmas Eve meals. This must have been a compromise.

There are no planned meetings this week between Obama, Boehner or other key figures in the “fiscal cliff” negotiations.

What are they doing, Christmas parties all week?

JPeterman on December 3, 2012 at 10:53 PM

I read yesterday that Obama was playing golf…

With all the heat on Boehner, and some of it not well placed, I support the idea of not giving Obama the time o’ day, so to speak, as long as Obama continues to play his little games with the world’s future and especially our national one.

Not “meeting with” Obama when he has nothing to offer is appropriate, to put it mildly. If he starts behaving like an adult with serious, constructive ideas about our economy, all inclusive, then let him “be freeeee” on golf course while Boehner and the rest of Congress do their work.

Not “meeting with” Obama when he has nothing to offer is appropriate, to put it mildly. If he starts behaving like an adult with serious, constructive ideas about our economy, all inclusive, then let him “be freeeee” on golf course while Boehner and the rest of Congress do their work.

Lourdes on December 3, 2012 at 11:43 PM

Not “meeting with” Obama when he has nothing to offer is appropriate, to put it mildly. If he DOESN’T START behaving like an adult with serious, constructive ideas about our economy, all inclusive, then let him “be freeeee” on golf course while Boehner and the rest of Congress do their work.

I sold the photos to the Daily Mail so now everyone in England will see them and you will be more famous than the spice girls. The offers will come flooding in and you will be invited to Buckingham palace to have cucumber sammiches with the queen,

The meal included oplatki, a dish of honey and a dish of garlic (both symbols of something), a fresh mushroom soup with sauerkraut in the broth ( a delicious combination), fish (not carp though), pierogis, prunes, peas (symbols of fertility?) a layered concoction of pastry and cheese, a basket of fruit, and nut rolls. The contributors to the celebration came from differing traditions of Slovak Christmas Eve meals. This must have been a compromise.

onlineanalyst on December 3, 2012 at 11:37 PM

Doesn’t sound like compromise to me, looks like they have it all covered. It’s just good, hearty food, nothing fancy.

I can remember traveling in Poland, where our guide talked about the abundance of carp as a favorite food. We Americans expressed our disgust since we think of it as a bottom feeder fish as Schadenfreude mentioned. Our guide assured us that the quality of European carp is quite different in taste.

Oh, before we began the meal, a youngster went to a window to point out the first star, too.

After the skits and singing/dancing, a woman nearby commented that the experience was just like going to the opera: You may not understand the language, but you got the jist of the story in all of its emotion. Just delightful!

those who are still relying on the Leftmedia “news” programs (CBS, ABC, NBC news) with some of those still relying on the cable “news” programs of CNN and MSNBC, are spoonfed the Left propaganda. And are not presented with anything else. Thus, they’re dumbstruck when asked specific issue questions and positions-held by what candidate questions (and/or by Party). They don’t KNOW anything else except the Parrot Propaganda Talk told to them by Leftmedia.

Otherwise, they’re texting and chatting. When they turn to media, they do so for very bried, entertaining snark. They WANT to be entertained with sarcastic, quick snark. So that’s why deplorably deluded “entertainers” and their shows succeed with these viewers/users: Colbert, Jon Stewart, Letterman, Maher on HBO for the fancy-schmancy Leftwingers and a few websites that offer funny, sniping graphics and lot of gossip.

So we get the grossly underinformed or misinformed Leftwing voters. Their connections with and through media are because they need the short-burst sarcasm of the Left which is also reliant on bastardizing and dishonestly representing anything Conservative or even Moderate.

Um, if you guys are gonna talk about feasting with foods from former parts of the Austro-Hungarian empire (a little Slovene blood in my case) can I get a little rakia or slivovitz beside my pilsner?

M240H on December 3, 2012 at 11:43 PM

You people better not be speaking in some weird code. Por favor.

I sold the photos to the Daily Mail so now everyone in England will see them and you will be more famous than the spice girls. The offers will come flooding in and you will be invited to Buckingham palace to have cucumber sammiches with the queen,

(:

SparkPlug on December 3, 2012 at 11:47 PM

O! Congratulations Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, for the new life! And to Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, for having sex with Catherine!

“I can’t figure out many of the president’s moves. But you read Bob Woodward’s book, The Price of Politics, you can see that the president does not seem to want to work together to find real solutions. I look at this, it seems his number one priority—his stated number one priority—is to increase tax rates on the wealthy. Not necessarily tax revenue, but just tax rates. And he said in the past that’s because it’s fair. Well, it doesn’t really fix the problem. It’s still just a drop in the bucket in terms of how much revenue could be raised by increasing tax rates. You know, John Boehner has put revenue on the table. And the president ought to be focused on the number one priority: an actual solution to the problem, not something that’s just focused on his politics.”

Howard Dean is all in, just like Patty Murray. they think they’ve got themselves some hostages…and what do you do with hostages..shake people down..the alinsky way

and barry’s press is all in…ready, willing and able to tackle the party of Evil White Guys and put a stake in their heart

honestly, i’m beyond caring, because most of this is theater…and will be re-done next year

but, here’s my concern…peggy nooan and doug schoen were on fnc with perino…and they were talking about a Clinton/Bush 2016 race…..at which point i looked at my better half and said…now you know if that happens, we’ll be a banana republic for sure

State and local law enforcement groups want wireless providers to store detailed information about your SMS messages for at least two years — in case they’re needed for future criminal investigations.

AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint, and other wireless providers would be required to record and store information about Americans’ private text messages for at least two years, according to a proposal that police have submitted to the U.S. Congress.

CNET has learned a constellation of law enforcement groups has asked the U.S. Senate to require that wireless companies retain that information, warning that the lack of a current federal requirement “can hinder law enforcement investigations.”

They want an SMS retention requirement to be “considered” during congressional discussions over updating a 1986 privacy law for the cloud computing era — a move that could complicate debate over the measure and erode support for it among civil libertarians.

As the popularity of text messages has exploded in recent years, so has their use in criminal investigations and civil lawsuits. They have been introduced as evidence in armed robbery, cocaine distribution, and wire fraud prosecutions. In one 2009 case in Michigan, wireless provider SkyTel turned over the contents of 626,638 SMS messages, a figure described by a federal judge as “staggering.”

peggy nooan and doug schoen were on fnc with perino…and they were talking about a Clinton/Bush 2016 race…..at which point i looked at my better half and said…now you know if that happens, we’ll be a banana republic for sure

I just need the Republicans to do something good, win one little skirmish to get me out of my funk. But on a bright spot, Hail to the Redskins. The only thing in D.C. besides the architecture worth saving.

Why doesn’t the GOP in the House pass a simple tax bill that reduces the “middle class” tax rates by an additional 10% over what they are RIGHT NOW, and ignore the lower and upper rates, let them expire. And in this tax bill, adjust that stupid AMT tax upwards where it doesn’t affect anyone, single or married, who makes less than 1 million a year. I resent having to pay for the AMT analysis when I get my tax returns ready to file and I am pretty much “middle income” these days.

Then send it to the Senate and go on break. Let Harry Reid and Obama explain why they didn’t pass a bill with a REAL middle class tax break.

It’s surprising to me that the president, essentially, who could get revenues he wants from the deductions and exclusions, but insists on rates not for economic reasons but political. He wants to break the backs of Republicans. This is a continuation of his campaign. He thinks he is won it and now he wants to drive a stake through the Republicans. It’s all about the politics; it’s nothing about the economics.

Drive that point home, and the Republicans win the political war.

I’m quite serious. Obama is his own worst enemy, and we should expect him to overreach eventually. If the public ever perceives him as caring only about the politics while the economy goes under, they will take the side of the House Republicans, and all the media spin in the world will not change that.

Reagan used to beat the media regularly, back when there was no alternative media. He had exactly one advantage, though: everyone KNEW the media hated him, so they didn’t believe a word they said.

My grandparents on both sides came from the Krakow area. When visiting there, I tried to respond a thank you in Polish in my anemic way to a postcard vendor who rattled off a series of words. When he realized that I was from the United States, he asked if I lived in Chicago. I had to laugh.